Authors: Marianne Spitzer
It was a little past four, and Daniel asked if anyone else was hungry. Annamarie and Nancy said they would make sandwiches to eat while Daniel changed out of his suit. A few minutes later he returned dressed like a hiker, carrying his rifle bag.
“Do we need to take the rifle?” Annamarie asked.
Daniel said, “We need it for security, and if something goes wrong, I’ll shoot the man. If something happens to me, then you can use the rifle.”
The room began to spin, and Annamarie grabbed the edge of the table to keep from falling. Daniel grabbed her and helped her sit down.
“You need something to eat,” said Daniel.
“I’m not hungry. I had lunch. Your rifle bag scared me. It didn’t seem real until now.”
“Don’t worry, baby. I’ll be okay, but I’m hungry.”
“Me too,” said Nancy.
Annamarie couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream or weep. She thought about the baby and how her own emotions might somehow affect it. Someone needed to remain rational, emotions under control for now. It would have to be her.
If she mentioned the baby, the only difference would be Daniel forcing her to stay home, and someone had to help him. With Daniel’s mindset about the partner and the spirits, if she stayed behind and called the sheriff, there could be a tragedy beyond measure. The idea of Daniel in the pines with a rifle and the sheriff and his deputy walking around terrified her.
Daniel said he needed to talk to Annamarie, and the two of them went into their bedroom.
“You understand the plan, right?” said Daniel.
All Annamarie could do was nod her head. She felt sick.
“When that creep gets there, Nancy will give him the envelope of money, and once she’s far enough away from him, I’ll walk out with a rifle. I’m hoping at that point I can push him off the bluff without shooting, but I’ll shoot if necessary, and then throw the rifle over the bluff into the river.”
Annamarie heard it all before, and it sounded like something from a book or movie, not reality and certainly not her reality.
“If he has a gun or something else goes wrong, you’ll be close enough to get the rifle, and shoot him.”
Annamarie’s mind began to spin again.
“If he has a gun, you have a rifle, and something goes wrong, how do you expect me to get the rifle without getting shot?”
“If he has a gun, he’ll pull it out when he talks to Nancy to keep her in line. I’ll just shoot him, and it’ll be done.”
Voice shaking, she asked, “Don’t all men like him carry guns?”
“Maybe, but I think he’ll be worried about being caught with a gun if the sheriff sees him again after what happened at Ray’s. Neither one of us will be hurt. Ever since we returned home, I feel the spirits growing stronger, and I believe they’re all following Magdalena now. She’s the strongest and the leader. She’s your
spirit and will take care of us. I know it.”
Annamarie realized it was useless to argue with him. Daniel said it was time to go, and she knew her husband was never going to change without help. George was right, he did need counseling and Annamarie was going to be sure he got it one way or another when this was over.
She gave one more fleeting thought about staying behind and calling the sheriff, but Daniel with a rifle in his hands out in the pines kept her from notifying the sheriff.
“I’ll be right out. Go have a sandwich with Nancy.”
“Okay, baby,” Daniel said.
Annamarie checked the drawer. The gun was still there. She felt a bit of relief knowing Daniel was only taking one gun.
Daniel said, “We’ll take both vehicles, and park them in the garage at the Logan house. Then walk into the pines from the meadow behind the house, near where the outbuilding used to be. It gives us perfect cover there. After it’s over, Nancy you take the money to help get a good start. It’s the least we can do for Garret. You should also take the man’s vehicle. Take a right down Tangledbranch Road away from Timmus Woods, no one will notice. Get as far away as you can, and catch a bus to where your family lives.”
Nodding, Nancy agreed with the plan, and the three of them left.
Nancy and Daniel left in the Jeep so they could fine-tune the details. Annamarie followed in her car, shaking and crying over what was about to happen.
While she drove, Annamarie said to herself, “I’m not a murderer, nor am I the type of person who would do anything like this, and now I’m going to be a murder accomplice. I don’t know about Nancy’s character, but Daniel’s not a murderer either. I read people can be pushed to this point. How am I ever going to know if this is part of Daniel’s character, or his fear of spirits has driven him to this? We need answers. Maybe I’ll have Daniel hospitalized for a while for his own good. George may be right. Daniel needs psychiatric care. It’s not normal to contemplate murder. After all, we have a baby coming. I pray my baby doesn’t grow up to be like Daniel. Please, little one, be a girl and gentle as a summer’s breeze.”
They arrived at grandpa’s house and as planned, parked both vehicles in the garage. They walked through the meadow toward the pines and Nancy saw where the outbuilding had been. She understood why Daniel felt the need to have it torn down. She too was happy it was gone.
Entering the pines on the well-worn path, they stopped approximately twenty feet from the clearing. Daniel told Nancy to walk into the clearing, meet the man, and he would be close enough behind her to get a decent shot.
It occurred to Annamarie shooting this man had been Daniel’s plan all along. Revenge for Ben and Garret.
Nancy slowly moved into the clearing with the envelope of money in her hand. She wants revenge, too Annamarie thought.
A truck pulled up from the opposite side of the pines where they entered, and in a few minutes a man appeared. He didn’t seem like someone threatening except for the gun in his right hand. Walking, he casually tossed his keys up and down in his free hand, acting like a tough guy on TV. He approached Nancy where she stood looking out over the bluff.
“Did you bring the money? I need to get out of here. Pine trees make my eyes itch,” he said.
“Right here,” Nancy said when she held out an envelope.
The man rubbed his eyes. “I can’t see. The pine burns my eyes.”
Annamarie and Daniel felt a small breeze and smelled the strong scent of pine. They looked at each other in amazement.
The man dropped his keys when he tried to clear his eyes, yelling, “What kind of place is this and what kind of trees?”
He kept complaining about his eyes, backing away from where the scent was most intense.
To Nancy’s horror, she watched him topple over backwards off the edge of the bluff. He never screamed. Nancy wondered if perhaps he’d grabbed a branch after he
fell until she heard a thud.
Daniel and Annamarie came running from their hiding places and Daniel peered over the edge. “He’s dead, that’s almost a thirty foot drop onto those rocks. No one could survive. It’s over.” He hugged Annamarie. “We did it.”
Daniel picked up the keys and handed them to Nancy.
“Take the money and the truck. Go to your family. We’re all safe. Drop us a postcard when you’re settled so we know you made it.”
Nancy hugged Daniel and Annamarie and said, “Thanks.” She hurried out of the pines, into the truck, and drove as fast as she dared, away from Timmus Woods.
Putting his arm around Annamarie, Daniel drew her close to him. “I can’t believe we did it and I didn’t have to shoot him. Someone will find him in a day or two, and assume he fell while creeping around, trying to spy on me. This couldn’t have ended better.”
Annamarie wasn’t sure and began to tell Daniel her concerns. He refused to listen. No one was going to trace this back to him. Besides, the spirits would see they were safe.
Daniel grabbed Annamarie by the arm and pulled her closer to the edge of the bluff. “He’s dead. No one knows. We won.”
“I know,” Annamarie said, her head spinning from the height.
“What the hell’s the matter with you? You should be happy,” snapped Daniel.
“I don’t feel well,” Annamarie said thinking she had to tell him about the baby. He had to stop acting this way. Daniel’s carefree attitude had changed.
“Where’s the woman I saw taking on the sheriff, the one who put my mom in her place? What did you do with her?” Daniel said.
Annamarie began to cry. “Daniel, stop. Please don’t yell at me. I feel sick.”
Daniel said, “You feel sick, perfect. We’re supposed to be celebrating, and you get sick.”
“What’s wrong with you, Daniel? What happened to the sweet man who made all the promises, and said we’d have a happy life together?”
“Yeah, yeah we’ll be happy. Your spirit will see to that.”
Annamarie stressed to the extreme and feeling her hormones going into overdrive, screamed at Daniel, “We don’t have any spirits. It’s only your imagination. You have to see that. You’re losing your grip on reality. You’ll be committed if you don’t stop all the spirit talk.”
Daniel grabbed her by the shoulders. Annamarie didn’t want to look over the edge again, and tried to push away from Daniel, but he held on tighter.
He yelled in her face, “I think maybe you’re still a little high school girl. I know now you truly are a bitch from the way you’re acting, and what you’re saying. No one is going to put me away anywhere. Do you understand?” He shook her violently.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” Annamarie mumbled through her tears.
She thought Daniel had surely lost his mind. He wasn’t making any sense, but she had to keep him calm.
He must have seen the hurt on Annamarie’s face because he said, “What’s the matter? Are you going to call your spirit with your shared Gypsy blood? You’re going to try and put another Gypsy curse on me, little girl? The spirits in the pines killed Garret’s partner, not any spirit of yours. I think your spirit is benevolent and not a threat.”
Annamarie pleaded, “Daniel, you’re hurting me. Please let go.”
Daniel dropped his
arms and laughed at his wife. “You’re a baby. What made me think you’d grown into a woman?”
Annamarie looked Daniel in the eyes and said, “I love you, Daniel, more than I ever thought I could. You need help and I can’t give it to you. I also don’t need a Gypsy curse to help me.”
When Annamarie finished talking, she pushed against his chest, hard. Daniel lost his balance, falling backward. One foot left the bluff, and for a moment, he hung in the air before his second foot left the bluff. Terror filled his eyes, and Annamarie could see he was trying to say her name, as he grabbed toward her. She stepped back away from the bluff and watched him fall. He also fell silently until Annamarie heard the thud. Looking over the edge of the bluff, she saw Daniel’s body lying face up about two feet away from Garret’s partner. She felt the soft breeze and pine scent surround her. She knew he was dead.
She saw Daniel’s rifle on the ground and pulled a hanky from her pocket. She picked up the rifle by the end of the barrel with the hanky between the metal and her hand. She turned half-way around and then spun back quickly letting the rifle fly off the bluff. She watched it spin in
circles getting closer to the river with each spin. She saw the splash about twenty feet offshore. She knew if the rifle was found, the sheriff would think Garret’s partner threw it over before he and Daniel fought, and they both fell to their deaths. She slipped the hanky back into her pocket.
However, she knew the rifle was gone forever when she remembered the words from the dream. “But what is hidden that will cause pain will never be found.”
A tear ran down Annamarie’s cheek when she thought of her child growing up without a father, but she couldn’t take the chance this precious baby would grow up with a father like Daniel. She had truly believed he changed, but in the end, he reverted back to the crazed Daniel, the mean Daniel, and the Daniel that scared her.
Annamarie turned and walked back on the path toward the meadow. She would sleep well tonight knowing she and her baby were safe. Tomorrow she would call the sheriff, say Daniel hadn’t come home
, and she was terrified. She would tell him she thought Daniel had gone to meet Garret’s partner. They would find the bodies.
Walking out into the meadow, Annamarie put her hand on her stomach and said, “If you’re a boy, I’ll name you Michael after your great-grandpa, but I know you’re a girl, and I’ll name you Magdalena.”
At the crest of the hill, Annamarie turned to look back at the trees, and thought she saw a glimpse of dark hair and colored ribbons disappear among the trees. The scent of pine returned. Annamarie felt safe. She knew she was home.
End?
Look for book two in the Gypsy Spirits series,
Annamarie and Magdalena
, due out early fall 2012
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Annamarie is trying to settle down in the Logan house and accept her new life. The spirits are still watching over her, but so is Daniel. How much terror will he bring to her life? Is she safe, is her child safe? Annamarie’s courage will be tested. Will she win the battle?
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Marianne Spitzer, Author
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Musings Under the Willow Tree
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